


Loose Fingers

by monstersanonymous



Series: Loose [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: American Sign Language, Deaf Character, Exy (All For The Game), I love him, Its funny tho, M/M, Neil Learn New Language Out of Spite, also its fluff? kind of?, also: author writes like she's writing a paper I'm sorry, and Kevin in Hot and that is important to the plot, and Kevin knows ASL fight me, and my son Basim, canon AU, canon cussing, i think, this is just Neil being petty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:54:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26923957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monstersanonymous/pseuds/monstersanonymous
Summary: "Hey, listen to me when I'm talking to you!"Abshaar slowly lifted his pointer finger up and Neil watched as he tapped it to his jaw and then to the bottom of his ear.“You—” Words stuck themselves in his throat. “You can’t even fucking hear me?”********When the Foxes clash with the Georgia Gators, Neil finds that his usual verbal rampage falls on deaf ears. Literally. He then sets out to make sure that this Basim Abshaar knows exactly what he's saying. Feat. Andrew being. Well, Andrew.
Relationships: Matt Boyd/Danielle "Dan" Wilds, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Series: Loose [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2006863
Comments: 17
Kudos: 247





	Loose Fingers

**Author's Note:**

> HI! I said I was going to write this and for once I actually did! Basim is a mish mash of some of my friends so he's very personal to me I hope you like him. There's not solid plot to this, it's just self indulgent and my trying to stay true to the characters.

It started, as most of his obsessions did, with Exy. Sophomore year, before the actual tournaments began, the Palmetto Foxes played the Georgian Gators. It was, legally, a harmless scrimmage. But the Foxes were never ones to consider any type of game harmless. The Gators had some big people on the team and Kevin had been up everyone’s asses about training, training, training.

The overall game went about as well as their other ones did. They lost, but barely. The first half of the game had Andrew in the goal. He alternated unpredictably between completely boredom and lightning quick reflex. Well, it was unpredictable if you didn’t see the meaningful looks Neil would shoot him across the court every time they were falling behind. They switched it up the second half, subbing in Renee as goalie. While she’d improved significantly over the last year, the Gators knew her weaknesses far better than they knew Andrew’s. Nicky and Allison were doing their best to keep the other team away, but it was up to Neil and Kevin to run them ragged.

Neil, being his typical self, remained stubbornly in front of whoever looked like they were going to cause the most trouble. It didn’t matter if their gait was double his. Kevin danced through the court, chasing down goal after goal.

Mere seconds were left when Neil noticed an opening, a chance for him to score. He darted towards an empty spot on the court to receive a pass and promptly crashed into something.

That something hadn’t been there half a second ago, so he hit it full speed and was knocked flat on his ass. There was a buzz, indicating the end of the game, and Neil looked angrily up at the wall of a man he’d run into.

Basim Abshaar. Junior. Six foot seven and a monster of a man. He transferred into his school in the second semester of his sophomore year, meaning the Foxes had never played him. Neil rose steadily to his feet and felt his tongue loosen.

“Oh, cheap trick Abshaar. Leave a space open for me to think I had a shot and then knock me over. Well, listen up, you tacky bastard,  _ don’t _ underestimate me. Just because I’m a better player than you on the court doesn’t mean you can resort to dirty fucking manipulation games and—” Neil’s angry ramble screeched to a halt. Abshaar wasn’t even looking at him. He was looking across the court and nothing about his posture indicated that he was paying Neil any attention. 

Neil slammed the butt end of his racquet to the floor. “Hey. Listen to me when I talk to you.” He waved his racquet a bit in the air in frustration. Abshaar startled and looked down at him as he redid his angry tirade. As Neil went on, Abshaar grinned and the grin just grew until Neil stopped again.

“What?” he snapped.

Abshaar slowly lifted his pointer finger up and Neil watched as he tapped it to his jaw and then to the bottom of his ear. The grin was less of a grin and more of a cocky smirk. Neil’s eyebrows knit together in confusion. Abshaar tapped his ear twice and then shook his head.

“You—” Words stuck themselves in his throat. “You can’t even fucking hear me?”

Abshaar’s smile matched the Cheshire Cat’s. He opened his mouth and let out a series of noises that sounded suspiciously like  _ What? I can’t hear you,  _ save for any hard constants.

Neil fumed and settled for showing him the middle finger.

Abshaar tossed his head back and let out a choked laugh. He patted Neil on the head, smirked triumphantly again, and jogged off to meet his team. Nicky came up to Neil, and both of them watched as he waved his hands expressively to his coach and teammates and they did similar motions back.

“Did the hunk just get away with patting you on the head?” Nicky asked, eyes still trained on Abshaar. 

Neil didn’t respond.

He was thinking about the ASL section in the library.

***

Neil tossed himself into ASL, shamelessly utilizing Andrew’s eidetic memory to help him study. Their next game against the Gators was in three months and Neil was determined to have ASL mastered by then. Andrew was less than enthused by this.

“Of all the things you hold a grudge for, not being able to bitch at someone is this important to you?” he asked between mouthfuls of CocoaPuffs that he stores under Neil’s bunk. 

“Are you surprised?”

Andrew raised an eyebrow at him. Another handful of Puffs went down.

“I bought those for you two days ago, are you already almost done?”

Almost all of Andrew’s arm sunk inside the box. “Cocoa Puffs.” he said. 

Neil accepted it as a reasonable answer. He returned to fingerspelling his teammates’ names. 

He got to Allison’s name and Andrew reached over and tapped his thumb, reminding him that it should be folded over his fingers like a punch for the ‘s’, not sticking out as you did for ‘a’. He smiled quickly at him and Andrew simply huffed and settled further into his beanbag.

“Maybe your head’s too small to fit another language, Junkie.”

Neil shook his head. “I’ll get it. Languages are easy for me.” Andrew didn’t comment on that. They’d already had the conversation where Andrew teased him for only being good at languages because he liked to run his mouth and Neil teased him back for liking it. 

“I don’t ‘like’ anything about you.” Andrew had ground out. 

Neil had stared very pointedly at his mouth. “Uh huh.”

The truth of the matter was, American Sign Language was hard. It was a very physical language. The grammar was entirely different, dropping verbs like “is” or “am”. The meaning of a question could change entirely with a small detail like whether or not you lifted your eyebrows. And for some reason, ‘p’ was just ‘k’ upside down. Some things clicked easily for Neil. ‘Student’ was just a combination of the signs ‘learn’ and ‘person’. If he wanted to say ‘over there’ he would just point. Possessive was open plamed versions of nominative words, like I, you, they. 

Andrew, the asshole, got a handle of it quickly simply from watching Neil practice along with YouTube videos. And he stubbornly fought back against tutoring Neil.

“If you don’t learn it on your own you’re going to beat yourself up later about it not actually being your success.” He was right, but knowing ASL before the next Gator match felt like a competition. And Neil really, really wanted to win.

If quite a bit of making out followed their study sessions, well. Who can blame them?

***

It turns out that the infamous Kevin Day was fluent in ASL. None of the Foxes knew this, of course, until the one day Kevin saw Neil signing ‘sorry’ backwards, huffed irritatedly in the way only Kevin can do, grabbed his wrist, and guided him, albeit aggressively, through the right motion. The Foxes later managed to pry out the story behind his knowledge from him. It was Riko and the Ravens that had taught him. They spent only a month picking up the new language in the idea that they could communicate on court without talking. Promptly after that Kevin’s hand was broken, so the plan went sailing out the window. Neil was only slightly miffed that the Raven’s hadn’t stuck to it. It meant that he could have learned sign earlier and not be in this predicament right now.

Andrew, for all intensive purposes, seemed like he got approximately zero fucks about this new development. His gaze was bored and unmasked as Kevin and Neil signed at each other. Their Exy watching sessions were split in half to make room for ASL lessons. If you simply watched Andrew, you wouldn’t have known that anything had changed at all. But, by the time the game against the Gators came around, Andrew would also occasionally sign. Even if it was just to make Neil laugh from across the room.

***

Neil felt like he’d bathed in Red Bull in the hours leading up to the game. It was home, fortunately, so he didn’t keep anyone awake with his bouncing while on the bus. Andrew repeatedly placed his hand on the back of Neil’s neck to still him. Even the freshman seemed to notice that he was a little more amped up for this game that usual. He was a starter in today’s game. As he waited to start the game, he scanned the opposing team for a familiar face. His hands clenched in excitement when he found it. The Exy racquet would have snapped in half if it was made of any weak kind of material. He felt a grin come to his face. Not the Butcher’s grin, not a grin for the Foxes on movie night. No, this was the grin the reporter’s knew, the baseball team knew, the guys in his science class who think being over 6 feet tall is a personality knew. This, this was Neil Josten’s grin.

And it was telling Basim Abshaar to eat shit.

***

They won. It was a tough game, but everyone was fuelled by revenge from their previous loss. The Foxes don’t always win, but they never lose to the same team twice. Dan, Wymack, Neil, and Kevin all made sure of that. 

When the court had erupted into cheers of victory, Neil had tossed his helmet to the side and marched right over to Abshaar. 

The man turned to him and grinned. Despite his loss, it still looked cocky and smug.

Neil matched it.

_ Suck my dick and die. _

Abshaar’s eyes widened.

_ That’s new. Pick up some new tricks since we last saw each other. _

Neil tucked his racquet more comfortably under his arm so he could sign better.  _ Only the best for you, Abshaar. I would be very sad if you missed out on all of the wonderful things I have to say about you.  _ Neil was careful with his expressions while signing this. ASL was a blunt language. To portray sarcasm, he had to do it entirely with his face, other his words are too literal.

_ All for me?  _ Abshaar signed back.  _ I am flattered.  _

_ Of course, you cheap trick bastard. The move you used in our last game? Dirty and manipulative. Asshole.  _

He let out his choked laugh.  _ You are a funny one. Your personality is the same as your hair. I am not surprised that your words have the same amount of bite as your smile. _

Neil. Well. Neil didn’t really know that to do with that. It had taken even the upperclassmen a while to find his snark endearing. It was unnerving,  _ You’re footwork would be good if you knew how to use those big lumbering arms of yours. Are those just for show or do they work like normal fucking arms because I cannot tell from your passes. _

Abshaar laughed again.  _ You, small fox, miss nothing. I am working on my passes, but I lack control. I sacrificed power for aim. _

_ You suck at both. _

_ Thank you. You are quite the chicken. _

Neil paused.  _ Was that sign chicken? _

_ You are fast. Like a chicken. _

_ Is that sign slang? _

_ It’s Basim slang.  _ Abshaar signed.

“Neil!” Kevin called across the court. 

Neil barely turned in his direction, simply flapping his hand in the sign that meant ‘come here’. Kevin jogged up to the two men. 

“Kevin.” Neil said while signing at the same time. “This is Basim Abshaar.” Kevin’s eyes widened with understanding.

_ I’m Kevin— _

_ Day, I know. I play Exy, of course I know who you are. _

Kevin nodded. His expression was his fake ‘press’ one that always made Neil want to punch him a little more than usual.

_ Good game.  _ Kevin signed.

Abshaar cocked an eyebrow.  _ That is not what my new friend here was telling me. I have some notes to take back to Georgia with me. _

Kevin glared at Neil, who simply looked away.

_ I am surprised.  _ Abshaar signed.  _ You are much more beautiful in person than on the television or photos. I did not think it was possible.  _

Kevin, much to Neil’s delight, turned an embarrassing shade of red. It took everything in his power not to laugh at the poor man right there.

_ Thank you. _ Kevin signed with shaking hands.

_ It is nothing. I must return to my team, but I will give you my number later.  _ Abshaar signed. He turned to Neil.  _ It was nice to become friends with you, Josten. Stay loose lipped.  _ His face furrowed in thought.  _ Loose fingered?  _ He shrugged and left.

Kevin and Neil watched him rejoin his team as Nicky and Andrew came up to them. 

“What just happened?” Nicky asked.

Kevin buried his face in his hands. 

“Kevin got hit on and,” Neil paused. “I made a friend by insulting his Exy technique, I think.” 

Andrew rolled his eyes. “Typical.”

***

Months later finds Neil in a rental minivan headed everywhere and nowhere at all. The Foxes, the Monsters and Upperclassmen at least, were taking their annual spring road trip. Nicky and Allison are in the front, rapping to what Neil thinks in Nicky Manaji. Aaron is buried under everyone’s sweatshirts and coats, using them as makeshift blankets and pillows. The only reason you were able to tell he was there was the steady rise and fall of the cloth mountain. Renee is draped comfortably over both Matt and Dan’s legs, reading something on her tablet. Matt and Dan are engaged in some co-player phone game.

Neil is in the back with Andrew because, “If you’re short you sit next to the luggage that just minivan rules, Neil.” He didn’t mind. Currently, his legs were tucked over Andrew’s lap and his back was resting against someone’s suitcase. Andrew has earbuds in, but whether he’s listening to music or not, Neil doesn’t know. He’s just staring out the window while Neil’s fingers fly over the keyboard of his phone.

“Who are you texting, junkie?”  
“Hm? Oh, it’s just Basim.”

“Basim?”

“Abshaar.” 

Andrew tapped Neil’s ankle. “Not my question.”

Neil smiled. “I know.” He sent another text. “He gave Kevin his number before he left, you know when we played the Gators?”  
Andrew grunted. 

“Kevin was too chickenshit to either ask him out or turn him down. Or to even start a conversation. So I took the number and we text now.” Andrew tapped his ankle again, this time acknowledgement that Neil had spoken. 

Neil sent and received a few more texts before speaking again. “He said to tell you: You are a strong man. If I had to put up with Neil Josten 24/7, I would be constantly exhausted.”

“What makes him think I’m  _ not  _ constantly exhausted?” Andrew said, voice flat.

Neil leaned forward and put his face right next to Andrew’s, noting how the other man made no move to move away. “Yes or no?” he breathed.

Andrew looked at him from the corner of his eye. Seconds ticked past and neither of them moved. He let out a suffering sigh. “Yes.”

Neil smiled and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. “I appreciate you putting up with me.”]

“I hate you.”

“I know.”

“Was that PDA that I just saw?!”

“Nicky, eyes on the road!”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Ta da! Let me know what you thought in the comments or on Tumblr @monstersanonymous  
> Also: I'm taking this opportunity to raise awareness for d/Deaf in the pandemic right now. Please be conscious that the masks came make it extremely difficult to communicate for those with hearing issues. Do wear a mask, but please be patient with those that struggle and if you do need to speak, speak loudly and clearly to help those that are HoH understand you.


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